Home    DTVR News    Digital Switchover Pros & Cons    Digital Radio & FM/AM Compared

Aerials for DAB    You and the Switchover (poll)    BBC 1 HD TV Guide    ITV 1 HD TV Guide

London 'Goes Digital' on April 18th
As the clocks chimed midnight on Wednesday 18th April 2012, around 5 million London homes lost analogue reception, taking the number of homes with digital-only terrestrial reception in the UK up to nearly 90% of the total. The area that 'switched' was a large one - basically everyone living inside the M25 and up to 15 miles outside London's infamous orbital motorway. The switch meant that millions of households found themselves having to do a full retune or 'factory reset' on their Freeview TV or set-top box. In most cases that should be all it takes to successfully retune all available channels, though some people may become confused if their televisions have both analogue and digital receivers built-in and they are unaware of it. This is likely to apply more to senior citizens. Friends and family members should ask older relatives and friends if they are having problems with their TVs, as many older people don't like to ask for help.
[source: edited from the original at ukfree.tv]

DAB digital radio and how it differs from FM/AM
As consumers we've come to expect the quality we get from today's CD and DVD players, but until recently listening to radio fell a long way short of CDs. We explore how digital radio is helping to get us closer to interference-free listening, but not necessarily better in pure audiophile terms. MORE

The TV Switchover finishes during 2012 in the UK
The map (courtesy of UK Free.TV) shows the planned switch to terrestial digital TV (that's TV via the usual roof-mounted aerial) across the UK. The red areas show 'old' analogue signal coverage; the yellow shows each ITV region and when transmissions go digital in that region. The map turns to green to show the change across the UK in 2012. The large London area switched in April 2012, leaving little more than 10% still to switch.

If you are still watching analogue TV or have recently been switched to digital Freeview but don't see a good quality picture, you may need to upgrade your aerial to a so-called 'wideband type', or relocate a loft-mounted aerial on to the roof. The 1.5% of the population (around a million people) who have been unable to receive terrestrial analogue TV will not be able to receive digital terrestrial TV after switchover. A satellite system (such as SKY) is the usual solution in these areas.